Practical implications in the interpolation methods for constructing the regional mean sea surface model in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

This investigation estimates a regional Mean Sea Surface (MSS) model, named SY21MSS, over the eastern Mediterranean Sea using satellite altimetry data from nine Exact Repeat Missions (ERM) and two Geodetic Missions (GM). Two interpolation methods, Least Squares Collocation (LSC) and Ordinary Kriging (OK), were employed, and statistical metrics were applied to assess their performance within a 15 km buffer from the coast. The comparison between LSC and OK techniques in the context of regional MSS modeling primarily centers on the covariance functions used by these methods. Furthermore, generalized cross-validation results indicate that OK outperforms LSC in this region. Consequently, the study recommends adopting the Kriging-based model for calculating regional MSS models in this region due to its superior performance. The investigation further explored the disparities between estimated regional MSS models and the global model DTU18MSS, highlighting a pronounced similarity between OK-SY21MSS and DTU18MSS, as evidenced by a lesser standard deviation (SD) difference compared to LSC-SY21MSS. The practical implications of this research underscore the importance of selecting an appropriate interpolation technique based on data characteristics and study area specifics. While both LSC and OK techniques are deemed viable for MSS modeling, the study emphasizes the superior performance of OK, particularly concerning covariance functions. Additionally, the results emphasize caution when applying global models in regions with significant local variations.